01/19/2009, Between Roatan & Belize
We FINALLY got the go ahead and a weather window that we could live with! Sunday was a very rainy day on and off, so it's a good thing we didn't leave that day. Today, Monday was our last ditch day, as Kristen & Chris arrive Tuesday in Belize City and we sure want to be there, so they don't have to camp on the dock! We left in mostly sunny skies and a nice breeze for setting the asymetric sail and cruising right along at 5-6 knots. That lasted all of 35 minutes, when we rounded the West corner of Roatan when we needed to head more northerly and discovered what everybody was talking about...Winds picked up to 15 knots (great for sailing) but the seas had settled to ONLY 7-9 ft swells. Doesn't sound too bad , a bit choppy at first but they were pretty close together and fortunately they were forward of our beem, so we could sort of cut right thru them. We have some awesome pictures of Triple Stars handling these swells like a sailing bulldozer! Thanks to Terri on sans cles who really captured some of the views of us just plowing thru those 8 ft seas! When we get to Cancun and have good internet I promise to get them up on the blog. (We changed computers in Belize, so I didn't have them available to me to get them up sooner) . Needless to say we made great time until about 4:30 that afternoon, when the wind clocked around to our nose and died...So on went the motor, motored thru the night and dropped anchor outside the Cucumber Beach Marina at 11:05am... Not a moment too soon, as Kristen & Chris arrived by taxi from the airport to the Marina at 12:30!!!!!
|
Comments [0]
01/15/2009, French Harbour, Roatan
We arrived in French Harbor after only 2 hours time...Not bad for leaving in party sunny skies, to getting thru 2 little rain squalls and very cloudy skies. We hung out in front of the entrance to the harbor for about 20 minutes or so, awaiting a break in the clouds and the drizzle to pass to shine little daylight so we could see some of the shallows and reefs we were needing to steer clear of to get into the harbor. Their buoy markers should be just a tiny bit bigger, as the white one you keep to your port and the black post in the water you keep to your starboard are only about 3 feet out of the water...and then there is a rock head that just breaks the surface that's past the black post that you need to keep to your starboard, but then make a "sweeping turn" to get into the channel..... Oh yea...you'll need to head on a diagonal to the island watching for the shallow spot that lies ahead of you....See why it's so important to have good light! But with some direction from Jay on Jupiter Smile (another IP packeteer) and Jan on the bow and Rob following his route and waypoints on the chart plotter, we made it in safe and sound. We anchored in 20 feet of grassy sand but it stuck pretty well. While we were one of only 6 boats now in the anchorage...in the next 24 hrs we are amongst 24 boats anchored here to await the "nasty, abominable " squally weather that has been forecasted from the Yucatan Peninsula, thru Belize and into the Honduras, Bay Islands (which is where we are)! While overcast and showery for the past 4 days...It really hasn't been all that bad here in the anchorage. We arrived on Monday, Tuesday just stayed aboard sitting thru some squally weather and Wednesday with some periods of sunny sky, went to provision in the morning...WELL...by the time we got to the store, the rain started, and in an hour or so, we were loaded to the gills, got the stuff in the dinghy and in rain and choppy seas, spilling over the bow with every wave, made our way back to Triple Stars! What a nasty trip! Thursday brought some pretty awesome weather sights.. By 10am we had seen 2 different funnel clouds and 2 different swirly surface rain bursts travel along the sky. One funnel cloud even was sucked down into the swirling water on the ocean's surface. The energy within those systems were pretty intense. We were sure glad we didn't take off that day! But the rest of the day was pretty cloudy and little periods of showers. Friday, we decided to check out in Coxen's Hole, still waiting for all of this "foul" weather to either come or pass us by! While we only saw sun for a few brief moments, we have just had cloudy weather. We even followed the leads of many of the local cruisers here in the anchorage and put out our secondary, storm anchor, in ANTICIPATION or preparation of the 35+ knots squalls that were forecasted for the area. 1 boat did drag, but other than that we seem to be very secure but still alittle freaked about all the "pending nasty stuff" that is still be forecasted. So stay tuned...we hope to leave on Sunday, but if weather is not good we may have to wait until Monday....Kristen & Chris arrive Tuesday at 11:30am so....only time/weather will tell...
|
01/10/2009, Port Royal, Roatan
After only a 5 hour, very benign passage with everything from full sails up, then an asymmetric run and finally a motor sail with NO wind and totally flat seas we arrived at Roatan. A reef totally surrounds this area with a few breaks for passage inside. We asked local advise from Tom & Stanna on "Sea Cat" and they gave us those oh so very important physical range and landmarks. "Go alittle past what looks to be the opening...then line yourself up with the Blue Cabana and the solar panels on the hillside and you will come straight in". We did see only 4 feet under the keel upon entering but then it quickly opened up to 20. We anchored along with 4 other boats and were promptly invited to a Dock gathering at Tom & Stanna's. Still a little tired from the trip and a bit of a head cold lingering, we made our way in to meet some new cruisers. Again,such a welcoming and helpful group of people. The 2nd night we had a little squall come thru packing 30+ winds and the boat behind us did some dragging at 12:30am! Tom & Stanna are currently land based here and were the 1st to shine their huge spot lights and hail us all on the VHF until Second Wind could get straightened out and re anchored! Tom also took us on a hike up to the ridge behind their house - okay we ALMOST made it up to the top of the ridge - we are just plain "out of shape"!. But WOW...what beautiful views of the anchorage and a bird's eye view of the reef that surrounds us. We spotted a couple of areas to snorkel in from up there and we were not disappointed. Quite the underwater rock formations and colors and different, smaller coral heads with plenty of fish that get to play here all the time! We also visited with the managers of a great little resort...Mango Creek...who made us yummy "made to order" breakfasts and gave us a little tour of their beautiful grounds. Guests pay $1,000/person/week..all inclusive but if you fly fish, it's $2,200/person including your guide and daily fishing trips and meals. Amy and Michael were a wealth of info about Belize and the Roatan area! Alas...we hear weather is really starting to kick it's heals in the NW Carib...so we better scurry off to French Harbor to provision, check out of Honduras and maybe "beat the system"...
|
